Does economic diversity influences neighborhoods poverty rates? The case of Quito

Abstract

Objective

Residential segregation in South American cities divides citizens according to their economic capacity. As a result, cities are formed by neighborhoods with differentiating urban characteristics depending on the economic group. In this research, economic diversity is studied as an urban characteristic, understood as the representation in a neighborhood of the greatest number of economic sectors, and its relationship with multidimensional poverty.

Methodology

The study was conducted taking the case of the city of Quito with a disaggregation level of parishes or neighborhoods, as is also referred to throughout the article. Economic diversity was calculated using the Shannon-Weaver methodology and multidimensional poverty was based on the methodology of Alkire and Foster (2007) and adapted to the 2010 Population and Housing Census. Descriptive statistics tools were applied to measure the possible association between the variables.

Conclusions

The analysis shows a direct relationship between the economic diversity in each neighborhood and its poverty rate.

Originality

The methodology applied allowed to find a degree of inverse association between poverty and economic diversity, its conclusions can be approached from urban or economic perspectives for the implementation of public policies at the subnational level.